By Charles W. Moore Applelinks Contributing Editor

Back in the days before the Internet was available in this neck of the woods, my principal sources of Mac information were Macworld Magazine and a personal reference library of Mac books, among which the most frequently referred to included at a couple of editions of MacWorld Mac Secrets By David Pogue and Joseph Schorr. These thickish volumes were jammy-packed with solidly-useful and entertainingly-presented information on how to get the most from your Mac.

Rob Griffiths' new "Mac OS X Hints Jaguar Edition: The 500 Most Amazing Power Tips," which just happens to be edited and co-published by David Pogue, carries on the tradition of the "Mac Secrets" tomes, delivering more than it advertises (there are actually 560 tips included) in a book that will help the neophyte OS X user become more proficient, and help turn proficient users into power users.

Even if you're a Mac veteran, the transition to OS X has rendered years of accumulated experience in tweaking the Classic Mac OS X largely irrelevant. Many of the former keyboard shortcuts, undocumented features, and secret time savers vanished with the appearance of an entirely new Mac OS. However, Mac OS X harbors just as many secrets, if not more, than the system that preceded it, provided you know where to find them and how to make them work. That's what this book is about.

Mac OS X Hints also shares the format and structure of the popular "Missing Manuals" series of books from Pogue Press/O'Reilly. The Introduction says that the book is intended to be like your OS X "pit crew, helping you find it easier, faster, and better ways of using the Finder, the Dock, the assortment of programs that come with Mac OS X, and a bunch of programs that don't. And if you want to become your own master mechanic, this book also includes two massive COLLECTIONS of assorted tips on Unix, the engine under Mac OS X's hood."

The hints are based on tips published on the Mac OS X Hints website (http://www.macosxhints.com/), Griffith's explains, "but it's not just a rehash of what is there. Every hint has been rewritten, expanded, organized, indexed, tested for compatibility with the latest version of Mac OS X 10.2, and in many cases, illustrated, making the book an even better resource then the website." Indeed, there are 440 illustrations in Mac OS X Hints.

If you're a complete OS X newbie, you should probably avail yourself of a copy of " Mac OS X: The Missing Manual" or another good book that covers the Mac OS X basics, but if you have passed the very basics learning stage, this book is for you.

Most of the hints are "self-contained," in that they describe a single problem and its solution or particular topic without reference to other content in the book. That makes Mac OS X Hints a quick and concise reference four particular issues. "You can open the book from any point for any length of time," says Griffiths. "Think of the book as a vast table of appetizers for your brain." You can check the Table of Contents in the Appendix below for the menu.

Mac OS X Hints is structured in 16 chapters plus an Introduction and a 14 page index. Chapter topics are as follows:

Introduction
Chapter 1: Designing Your World.
Chapter 2: The Finder and Desktop
Chapter 3: The Dock
Chapter 4: Programs.
Chapter 5: System Preferences
Chapter 6: Networking
Chapter 7: Mail
Chapter 8: iTunes
Chapter 9: iPhoto 2
Chapter 10: The Other iApps
Chapter 11: Other Apple Goodies
Chapter 12: Web Browsers
Chapter 13: Other Applications
Chapter 14: Add-Ons Worth Adding
Chapter 15: Useful Unix Hints
Chapter 16: Intermediate Unix Hints

As with other books in the "Missing Manuals" series, the main text is augmented with the sidebars that expand on issues of importance that didn't quite fit into the main body content.

Topics that I found particularly interesting for starters were chapters 1 and 2 with their hints on window navigation and Finder tweaking; Chapter 12, which is chock full of tips for getting the most out of Mac OS X Web browsers, including specific sections on Safari, the Gecko-based browsers (Netscape, Mozilla, Camino, Firebird),; OmniWeb; and Internet Explorer. Sadly, iCab and Opera are left out.

If you're a shareware fan, you'll find chapters 13 and 14 worth checking out, and there are also dedicated chapters addressing the care and feeding of the various Apple iApps.

The last two chapters of Mac OS X Hints are dedicated to Unix secrets, tips, and tricks, and between them take up 105 pages or about one-quarter of the book. If you're looking for concise information on how to implement some process using the OS X Terminal, this is the place to look.

Among the tips and secrets covered in Mac OS X Hints, you will find:

Desktop and Finder: how to shut down using only the keyboard; use an animated screen saver as a desktop picture; and jump to System Preferences with a keystroke.

iApps: how to burn six hours of iTunes music onto a single CD; merge calendars iCal; and prevent iMovie 3 from applying the Ken Burns effect.

Mac OS X programs: how to unlock 32,000 secret UniCode samples in each font; rename the System Preferences panels; add an "email this page " button to Safari; and make Mail announce, in a cute British accent: "mail has arrived, O all-wise master. "

Mastering the system: how to share Web bookmarks between Mac OS X and classic; connect to your Mac from the road; and make your iDisk work 10 times faster.

Terminal: how to save Terminal commands as Finder icons; put background programs to sleep; wake a sleeping Mac via the Internet; unearth the secret emacs adventure game; and set up a message board on your Apache-based Web site.

A great Mac OS X reference book with the usual excellent presentation from Pogue Press/O'Reilly. You're sure to find enough useful info in Mac OS X Hints to justify it's modest US $24.95 price.

Mac OS X Hints: Jaguar Edition
The 500 Most Amazing Power Tips
By Rob Griffiths
April 2003
0-596-00451-6, Order Number: 4516
478 pages,
$24.95 US, $38.95 CA, £17.50 UK

For more information, visit:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/macxhints/
http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/hints.shtml

MACinations October 03